‘Family Guy’ ‘Double Dribble’ Claim: Fox Studios Allegedly Stole YouTube Clip Of Game, Claimed It As Their Own
Family Guy’s Double Dribble clip from the latest episode called “Run, Chris, Run” is raising legal concerns after it was revealed to be the exact same footage posted to YouTube in February of 2009. The running belief is that Fox Studios took the clip directly from a user named sw1tched and used it in the episode. After the episode aired, Fox allegedly took the original clip down for copyright violation.
Many are speculating that the last of this chain of events happened due to automatic “bots” on YouTube, which search for any footage matching professionally published content and remove it. This kind of thing happens a lot with the site’s “abridging” community. Channels like TeamFourStar are taken down every once in a while because despite their “Dragonball Z Abridged” series being a fan-based parody, the carefully edited footage still matches the original enough to raise alarm.
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Much like the footage used for Family Guy’s Double Dribble clip, YouTube sometimes even gets the facts wrong. Copyright violation is a serious digital crime, but there are technical limits to what it really covers. Clips over a certain length of video or music are automatically flagged, and the one who posted it is given a warning. If this happens enough times, their channel is removed, and they need to file a counter-claim to bring it back.
When the Double Dribble footage used in Family Guy was taken down, it seemed odd. The game was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987, making it 22-years-old by the time sw1tched uploaded the clip to his YouTube channel. The copyright for that game had originally been held by Konami, though by 2009, that copyright was probably expired.
Many viewers noticed that the clip of Double Dribble used in Family Guy was identical to what the YouTube user had up. This means that either Fox Studios meticulously replicated the game footage from the clip or they took it from him.
The clip was of a glitch in the game where you can guarantee at least 80 percent of your shots go in, even from the half-court line. Peter and Cleveland are basically narrating as they play, and the clip ends around the same point that the original upload did. Family Guy’s Double Dribble clip likely didn’t violate any copyrights, as the game itself was beyond the claim period even when sw1tched uploaded the clip, and it’s doubtful that Konami renewed the copyright.
https://t.co/kl4JCRqT6v via @youtube The exact video used for the Corner 3???????????????????????? on #FamilyGuy
— Chris S. (@cgskeezy) May 16, 2016
The original uploader even explained what the clip was about and why it ended when it did.
“This is an automatic shot [which] my brothers and I found on the NES Double Dribble back in the 80’s when it was released. I know others know this also, but as long as you release at the right point it is automatic. The half court shot I took at the end goes in 80 percent of the time, but [I] didn’t want to keep recording… HAHA.”
The real question is whether Fox Studios actually made the copyright claim after Family Guy aired the Double Dribble clip, or if it was the YouTube “bots” that found visually identical footage and took it down. The original footage is still down, but a second clip can be found above, still intact.
What do you think? Was the Family Guy Double Dribble clip actually stolen footage from YouTube user sw1tched?
[Image via Family Guy/Fox Studios]
